This invention relates generally to substrates used in making articles such as training pants, diapers, feminine hygiene products, incontinence garments and the like, and more particularly to such substrates having graphics thereon.
Personal wear articles find widespread use as personal care products including, without limitation, diapers, children's toilet training pants, adult incontinence garments, sanitary napkins and the like, as well as surgical bandages and sponges. Certain such articles are generally considered to be disposable in that they are usually intended to be discarded after a limited period of use, i.e., the articles are not intended to be laundered or otherwise restored for reuse. Disposable absorbent articles typically comprise an absorbent body disposed between a liner, which contacts the wearer's skin, and an outer cover, which inhibits liquid body waste absorbed by the absorbent body from leaking out of the article. The liner of the absorbent article is typically liquid permeable to permit liquid body waste to pass therethrough for absorption by the absorbent body.
Conventional absorbent articles also typically include some type of fastening system for securing the absorbent article in an assembled configuration and/or for fitting the article on the wearer, such as on the wearer's waist in the case of diapers and training pants. In many such applications, the fastening system is releasable and refastenable so that the article can be temporarily removed and then refastened to the wearer.
It is further known to apply a graphic, such as in the form of a character, object and/or alphanumeric (e.g., numbers, words, phrases, instructions, etc.) to personal wear articles to enhance the aesthetic or otherwise visual appearance or usefulness of the article. Graphics applied to such disposable articles may also provide visual assistance to the wearer or to a caregiver securing the article on the wearer. In some instances, the graphics may include a material or substance capable of being visible in low light conditions, including in the dark, to further enhance the appeal to the wearer or ease of use by the caregiver.
One common technique used to apply a graphic to a personal wear article, and more particularly to the outer cover thereof, is commonly known as flexographic printing and provides a cost effective, high speed, high quality printing technique for printing thin films or non-woven fibrous webs while maintaining the tactile softness of the film or web. Flexography involves the use of flexible, raised rubber or photopolymer plates to carry an image to a given substrate on which the graphic is applied. The flexible plates apply a typically low-viscosity ink directly onto the substrate.
Existing inks capable of glowing in the dark, and particularly those glow-in-the-dark inks which are suitable for flexographic printing, are not easily seen under normal light conditions (e.g., daytime light conditions). Thus, graphics or regions thereof formed by glow-in-the-dark inks are difficult to distinguish against white backgrounds during normal light conditions. To this end, a discrete glow-in-the-dark region of a graphic is typically surrounded by a visibly distinguishable region (e.g., distinguishable from the background) so that the glow-in-the-dark region can be discerned during normal light conditions. When printed on the inner film layer of a two-layer outer cover, existing glow-in-the-dark inks become even less visible once the non-woven outer layer of the outer cover is laminated over the inner film layer. Such an arrangement does not allow for printed graphics to be easily seen in both normal light conditions and in the dark.